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Published: March 5th 2007
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Flares.
Wednesday (Feb 18th): What´s a football match without flares. Ok, so this is what we have been doing since we got back from our trip to Lake Titicaca and La Paz. We have moved into the ¨Family House¨, which is awesome. We have amazing food prepared by an actual chef, women who come and clean the house, and a rapid named Pepe. We feel a little spoiled. We are taking Spanish lessons at the same organization that organizes our orphanges, Maximo Nivel. We started our orphanages last Tuesday, and we both are having amazing time with the kids. They are so happy and enthusiastic.
Saturday (Feb 17th) We slept at Monica and Rafo´s house until around 10am, and then packed up and moved to the "family house", the house for all of the volunteers to stay in who are working with Maximo Nivel (it turns out that Global Crossroad was just a middle man that hooks up prospective volunteers with their database of volunteer organizations). So Maximo Nivel is actually the name of our organization. The house we are staying in is absolutely fantastic. We have a pet rabbit, Pepe, that lives in our courtyard, and two women that cook for us during the day and make our beds,
Girding for War.
Sunday (Feb 18th): Before we took to the streets. We had over 100 water balloons, as well as water guns, buckets, and spraying foam. and another cook and guard that come for the night. We´re also staying with awesome group of people, ranging from a school teacher from New Zealand to a business man from Canada to a 17 year old from an alternative school in New York doing almost exactly the same thing as us. Saturday afternoon we met up with Josh, a friend from Manu, and had an intense waterfight in the middle of the plaza. It ended up being basically Tom and Josh against Elena and whatever kids she could convince to help her out. The highlight was Elena wading into the fountain in the middle to try and fill up her balloons.
Sunday (Feb 18th) Sunday was more water balloon combat. During the month of Febuary every Sunday is known as a day to stay out of the Plaza De Armas unless you plan on getting soaked. We met up with Josh and a few of our roommates and roved through the streets fighting other groups with water balloons, water guns, and even water cannons. We all ended up soaked.
Monday (Feb 19th) On Monday we went to Maximo Nivel to take a Spanish test
Learning English.
Normally I have eight kids, but some were not there when I took this. to get placed into our Spanish classes. It turns out that between the time we signed up to work, and now the organization changed their program to give all volunteers two hours of Spanish lessons a day. So after our test, we had an orientation with the other new volunteers (there were two others, Jordan, a business man from Canada, and Cheryl, a woman from the U.S. who came to join her daughter volunteering here in Cusco. We went and visited the orphanages where we are going to volunteer, Elena is working in an all boys orphanage called Jesus Mi Luz (it is not religiously affiliated) and Tom is working in another all-boys orphanage called Maria Vargus Luisa that is run by nuns. They both seemed very nice and well organized.
Tuesday (Feb 20th) On Tuesday we started our real routine: we wake up around 7, eat breakfast, and walk to Maximo Nivel, where we have Spanish lessons at 8. Tom is in a class with a few of the other volunteers, and a teacher named Ursula. I am in a class by myself with a teacher named Jorge. We have classes until 10am, and then go
The Football Match II.
Wednesday (Feb 18th): Us at the football match. Top Row, left to right: Adrian (guy looking away), Marcus, Laura, Dana, Ashley. Bottom Row: Jordan, Elena, Cecila, Tracey, Shelley, Tom. home, eat lunch around 1, and then go to our orphanages for 2:30pm. We work there until 5:30, teaching English and math, making arts and crafts, playing soccer, and helping out with whatever might be needed.
Wednesday (Feb 21st) On Wednesday we went and saw a soccer game, it was Cienciana (the Cusco team) vs. a team from Mexico in the Copa Liberatores. It was quite a different experience, there were fireworks, torches, trumpets and drums in the stands around us. It was a close game, and Cienciana was ahead until the end of the second half, when Mexico scored two quick goals. The first was a beautiful free kick from 30 yards, and after than Cienciana lost heart and allowed a quick second goal. Cienciana lost 2-1. There was an audible hush after the game.
Thursday (Feb 22nd) We both settled into the new routine pretty quickly, and there wasnt much variation for the rest of the week. Tom is teaching his kids English and playing soccer and other games with them. Elena is also teaching English, as well as other activities.
Friday (Feb 23rd) The only highlight of Friday was that
The Family House.
Top Row: Tom, Kristen, Shelley (glasses), Kelvey, Casey (green shirt), Jordan (guy). Bottom row: Juanita (striped shirt), Maria (green shirt), Elena, Ashley, Tracey, Dana, Laura, Violeta, Michel (kid), Maria (different), Nicholas (baby). Tom bought a bike at the black market which he is using to get around. He got it for 150 soles ($40), and he figures he´ll save money in the long run from not having to take taxis.
Saturday (Feb 24th) Elena woke up early to go to La Policia with Jordan, the 39 year old business man who volunteers there on a regular basis. La Policia is the holding place for kids that have been picked up off the street and are waiting to be placed into orphanages. They are locked in the same room for 24 hours a day with bars on the windows (but no actual windows in the frames, so it must be freezing at night, and a small hole carved in the door to peek out. We stayed for most of the morning, Elena had a few girls teach me some words in Quichua, and we just played with the kids. There was one boy, Fernando, that Elena played with, who had gone home to visit his mother the day before, and a woman came in to ask him about it, but he just became so upset he looked like he was
on the verge of tears. It turned out that when he went home his mom had hit him, and that was why he was so upset. He only goes home to visit, but his mother doesn´t want him so he is waiting in La Policia until he can find a placement in an orphanage. He has been placed in several orphanages before, but has a habit of running away and always ends up back in La Policia.
Sunday (Feb 25th) Sunday we rested, and planned our lessons for the following week. That night we had a Oscar party, but it turned out that we could only get them in Spanish. We tried to stick it out anyway, but it lasted forever, and at the end it was only Tom sticking it out.
This week we have continued our Spanish lessons and our volunteering. Elena also started Quechua lessons this week (which are taught all in Spanish). So we now have two hours of Spanish lessons, and then Elena go to an hour of Quichua, and then we go to volunteer for three hours in the afternoon. Next week Tom may start doing another orphanage
Fruit Cart.
You can find carts along the street selling everything from fruit to candy to bread to raw meat. as well, because his schedule changes, so he´ll have even less time. Our days are very full, I hope that it excuses our delay of updating the blog. We hope everyone is well and we will see you in another two months!
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Marylyn Wentworth
non-member comment
Where do the orphans come from?
Given the number of orphanages you indicate there are in Couscu, it seems orphaned children are a bigger problem than here in the US. Is there a reason for this? Are there social issues that contribute to the number of orphans? Has this been true for a long time or is it a recent phenomena? Why do so many volunteers come from other countries to help out with this rather than Peruvians helping? Or do they volunteer too? I do not think of Peru as a third world country, maybe second and a half world country, but it occurs to me that I do not know enough about the relative social, political and economic stability of the country and whether they consider themselves a third world country. Can you give me some insight here? Are you taught anything in regard to interacting with these orphan kids or are you just thrown in to do your best? What seems to be challenging you in this work? I am also interested in the shape your senior project will take. What are you thinking about in regard to documenting your guiding principles and communicating not just a "travel-log" but what you learned about yourselves, about Peru and its people, what you have gained in regard to a broader understanding of the larger world? What were the problems you encountered and why were they problems? What and who has influenced you in regard to your own future from this experience? I have recently been reading a good deal about white racial and cultural priviledge. It is striking to me that most white people take their priviledge for granted to such an extent that they do not even perceive their priviledge. Do you see any distinctions in Peru that point to white race priviledge? Do you feel your own priviledge? If so, in what way? I am really interested in the depth and scope of your learning Elena and Tom. Knowing you two, I expect that you are keeping journals and recording experiences in your fertile brains, but think about long range documentation and think about your core inquiry. I look forward to hearing from you. My very best to you and I miss you both SO much. Marylyn